Hopeful Sunshine
by Windrises
Summary: After a period of gloomy days, things start brightening up for Winry. While going for a pleasant walk, she sees that Lust has returned and is after Edward.


Note: Fullmetal Alchemist was created by Hiromu Arakawa and is an anime that was done by the studio Bones.

Winry Rockbell had been having a chaotic week. She had more work to do than usual, which wore her out. However, there was more going on than just that. The weather had been gloomy and dark. At first, Winry didn't mind that. It had a cool, gothic sort of like. For a while, she felt like she was in a Tim Burton film, but the gothic appeal started fading away. It had been a while, since she had last seen the sunshine, and she missed it. She wanted to gaze into the brightness of the sun, forgetting the fact that staring into the sun is bad for eyesight. Eventually, things stopped looking gloomy, but that didn't mean things were getting brighter. There was snow, rain, even a thunderstorm. The bad weather reflected the gloominess that Winry had been going through. Because of work, she came home feeling tired and the cruddy weather added on to the unpleasant feelings.

One morning, Winry woke. She stepped out of her bed. She didn't have to go to work, but that didn't mean she was in a good mood. She was expecting the weather to be bad, so she walked to the window, while sighing. However, when she opened one of her windows and looked around, she was surprised by what her eyes were seeing: sunshine! Clear, bright, cheerful sunshine. Winry could feel a light smile, coming down her face. She had gone so long without good weather, that this felt unexpected, uncommon, but wonderful. She started stretching and yawning. Afterwards, she said, "I've let the weather impact my mood too much. I let a few dark clouds bring me down, but I have to stop being that petty. I can embrace the brightness of life, even when the sky looks edgy enough to be directed by Tim Burton. I'm going to be the boss of my own life choices, not the weather!" She looked at the sunshine and it started putting her in a sunny mood. She sighed and said, "Okay, this time I'm letting the weather decide my mood. However, when the weather's this good, I don't think blindly following it is a bad idea."

Winry was still in her pajamas, so she went to her room and changed into her jogging clothes, a blue t-shirt and gray sweatpants. She looked at herself, in the mirror, and said, "Wow, I look cute in this outfit. If I was ever in a race, my cuteness would distract the other racers, leading to an easy victory." She thought about what she just said and replied, "Wow, I have a big ego." She chuckled to herself.

Winry stepped out of her house and went outside. She looked at the sun, while admiring how bright the weather looked. However, the brightness of the sun had a side-effect: Staring at it hurts peoples' eyesight. Winry often took quick peeks at the sun, before walking away. However, this was a different situation. She had gone so long without seeing the sun, that she wanted to treasure this moment. At first, she was treasuring the moment, but it didn't last long. The sun started hurting her eyes. She started looking away, still feeling a bit of pain. She bonked herself on the head, while asking herself, "Why did I do that? If I wanted to look at the sunshine, that would be fine. I could look for five seconds at a time, before looking away, then looking back. However, I was being so careless, that I gave it a good, long look. How stupid of me."

Winry started walking around. After walking around for a few minutes, she stopped her walk and asked, "Why am I walking, while wearing my running clothes? I should be running, of course." She started going for a jog, across the forest. The forest blocked out the sunshine, but Winry's mood was still sunny. The thought that the sunshine was out there, was enough to comfort her. She didn't have to take long, detailed looks at the sun to be in a sunny mood. She was starting to realize that she can put herself in a sunny mood.

After ten minutes of jogging around the forest, Winry stopped and caught her breath. She said, "Wow, I'm used to only running for a minute or a two. That wore me out, but it was a great experience." She paused and asked herself, "A great experience that wears me out? That describes Tim Burton's films very well."

Winry had been alone for the entire morning, but that was about to change. She saw the villainous Lust, running around the forest, with an evil grin on her face. Winry hid under a garden bush, while wondering what Lust was up to. Lust stood around, with her hands on her hips, and said, "Soon, I'll find you and have you kidnapped." She did an evil laugh."

Winry wondered who Lust was talking about? Was Lust referring to her? The thought of that freaked Winry out. She took some deep breathes, while trying to calm down. She knew Lust had no real reason to go after her, so she figured she was safe. However, there wasn't that many people in the forest, so she still felt a sense of fear and it was hard to blame her. Winry peeked out of the garden bush and looked at Lust. She thought that Lust was pretty, in a gothic sort of way. While looking at Lust, Winry was constantly reminded of Tim Burton. Whenever something seemed remotely gothic, thoughts of Burton's films popped into her head. Due to being in a forest with a mysterious goth villain, Winry felt like she was in one of Burton's films. Being in one of his films would be a childhood dream come true, but this was a different, much scarier situation.

Lust looked up and saw who she was looking for. She had an excited, but evil looking grin on her face, while saying, "It's time you come down, because you're about to suffer my wrath." She did a villainous laugh.

Winry looked up and saw the person that Lust was after: Edward Elric, who had climbed up a tree. Winry had strong feelings for Edward, so seeing Lust chase after him was a scary experience. Instead of shivering in fear, Winry wanted to be brave and save Edward. She jumped out of the garden bush and started running closer to Lust. She sternly screamed, "Stay away from him!"

Lust was surprised by Winry showing up, because she had been unaware of her hiding in a garden bush. She wasn't exactly scared of Winry. Lust was an over-confident, boastful villain, the type of person who thought she was strong and powerful enough to defeat any threat. She didn't have a fond opinion of Winry. She thought Winry was a shy weakling. She had a smug smile on her face, while saying, "Edward's going to get beaten up, so you might as well dump him."

Winry shyly said, "Edward and I aren't dating."

Lust replied, "You let your feelings distract you. You're an over-emotional weakling and you could never beat me. You might as well scram!"

Winry started getting her fists ready, while saying, "You better stay away from Edward."

Edward looked down and saw Winry, so he asked, "What are you up to?"

Winry had a confident look on her face, while saying, "I'm going to defend you from Lust."

Edward had a concerned, but judgmental look on his face, while asking, "Are you crazy? There's no way that you could stop her. If you had some help, you'd only have a small chance."

Winry lightly smiled and asked, "Would you be interested in helping me?"

Edward started shivering in the tree, while nervously saying, "I'm too scared to fight Lust. I'm a cool, handsome guy, but I'm also a cowardly doofus." Lust nodded in agreement.

Winry couldn't stand the thought of Edward being in danger. She was tired of being sad about weather and scared of standing up for others. It was time for justice, even if that justice involved a fight. She ran up to Lust and punched her. Lust was surprised by the punch, so she punched Winry. Winry kicked her, across several feet. She said, "I'm not a weakling. Your judgements were unwise, unfair."

Lust had a confident look on her face, while saying, "You're the one who's lacking in the wise department. Your attempts to stop me are foolish garbage. I'm going to win this fight, so just stop."

Winry noticed how powerful and confident Lust was, but she wasn't going to let that break her spirits. She was still determined to stop Lust and a part of her heart believed she could really do it. She started punching and kicking Lust, with more determination and intensity than ever before. Lust was surprised by how fast Winry's fight moves were. Lust was expecting Winry to be a slow, easy to stop threat, but that was not the case. Winry had more passion than anybody she had ever fought. Winry was barely paying attention to how the fight was going. She barely had a thought in her head, other than protecting Edward from Lust's wrath. After several minutes of fighting, Winry looked down and could hardly believe it: Lust was worn out.

Lust said, "You turned out to be quite the fighter. I'm disappointed about not winning, but I admire your passion and success." She passed out.

Winry smiled, while feeling glad that justice had been served. She looked up and saw that Edward was still in the tree, so she climbed up the tree and sat next to him, on a hefty tree branch.

Edward looked at Winry and said, "I appreciate your rescue, but how did you do that? I didn't think you had those fighting skills."

Winry replied, "Even I hardly understand the outcome. Perhaps, it was because of some life-changes. The changing weather reflects my changing personality: a sunnier, happier person. I had been like a shivering weakling recently, sort of like how the sun was afraid to come out and shine. This morning, the sun broke out of its shell and shined, so I broke out of my shell and saved you from Lust."

Edward smirked and responded, "What a bunch of nonsense."

Winry nudged Edward and replied, "Hey, I saved you."

Edward responded, "You're right and I'm sorry for joking around. You're an awesome woman and you made my day shine brighter than I thought it ever could." Winry was overjoyed to hear that. She started giving Edward a big hug. Edward was surprised, but he started hugging her too. Winry could feel her heart warming up, the best type of warmth there is.


End file.
